St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-10-30

,.s KEgET&k& were more than
.TW respectable, her
family Was good, and her fortune COM
Portable, though not unwieldy.
Then, too, as daughter, neighbOr,
friend and hostess, she was allowed,
even by the most captious, to discharge
the whole duty of WOman-latterly
more, for after her father was stricken
with paralysis of his right arm he would
trust his business to none but Grace,
who, having clear head and ready pen,
proved herself an efficient substitute,
and won golden opinions from all
with whom the arrangement brought
her i'll contact, and they were not few
nor simple, for MintOn bred pure-blood
horses that went pretty well all over the
south country; in fact, his 60O-acre
farm, with its velvet pastures and clean
limbed, glossy herd, had reputation
almost national. and was quite the pride
of Rowan county, where it lay; so, first
and last, Miss Minton saw and knew
much more of the great outside world
than falls to the lot of most home-keep-
ing, provincial maidens.
MaplewO0d lies in a region of softly
swelling hills, well wooded and watered
by small, clear creeks that run down to
near the river. The country is three
fOurths cleared and largely set in grass.
In fact, blue grass grows there quite as
well as in the ''Blue grass region" A
fair and smiling land, full of roomy.
handsome houses, big barns, and tall
clear fences, with hard, white turnpikeS
winding through and through. One of
them ran past the gate of Maplewood,
cutting off from the main farm 100 acres
of pasture, through which thread of
bright water wound its laughing way
under shadows of elm, ash and syca-
more, past banks of clear pebbles or
green, fiOwery turf. Hither i'm midday
came the glossy yearlings from the
home pastures. there to develop strength
and speed, and stay, on fair water and
lush grass, throughout the bright, hot
summer; and hither Grace Minton, rid
ing in her fathers stead, slowly, with
rein well in hand, and bright, close
looking eyes, found an animal that, after
his fashion, showed fairly beside her
thoroughbredS.
A tall, young man, 1.-THE and we'll
made. with wet golden hair and look
of patient hunger in his well-cut face,
sat bareheaded on a gray rock in the
full sun blaze, wet shirt so clinging
to chest, arms and shoulders as to show
the physique of an athlete. On the
grass back of him lay a soft, wide hat,
a coat well cut and of good material, but
frayed and worn, and small Russia
leather bag, open and empty, save for a
few papers peeping from the inner
pocket. A tramp, evidently, whose
nOmadic life had not obliterated the in
stincts of cleanliness or decency, as he
had deemed it safe in his solitude to
wash himself and his clothes, and who
at the sight of the young lady sprang
up hastily, and flushing through all his
sun-tan, flung his coat about him and
looked with dumb apology into her face
Grace's first impulse was to ride away
in silence, as though unnOting, but
eyes arrested and held her, and pulling
up sharply, she said, with an unmistake-
able prOprietorial accent:
'HOw came you here?"
The man bent his bare head and an
swered literally:
Through the gate on the turnpike.
1t was unlocked. and it looked so cool
and pleasant down here, and | was so
tired and dusty, l was tempted into tres
passing. Pardon it, please; and let me
stay until the sun gets past noon, and
will go away without harming anything.
The road is blistering now"
Il know it," said Miss Minton. curtlv.
s'but that is no reason for you to stay
here hungry. Come Oh with me to the
house and rest there. Have you had
breakfast?'
He shook his head with faint smile,
and she continued severely:
That is very wrong. You should
have had it three hours ago. You insult
the country you are passing through
when you thus slight our hospitality"
He looked up straight into her face
and answered.:
''Dig =! cannot, for no man will hire
give me work?''
''What can you dO?''
well.''
'Can you handle horses?''
"a little" with the shadow of smile
behind his long, fair mustache.
"Can you ride colts?''
81 have done it; l think / might
again."
VERY well, will get my father to
take you week on trial; if you suit he
will take you all summer, though we
have never hired a white hand before.''
'What shall Ihave to do?''
Anything you are told to: chiefly
break horses to the saddle. Uncle Ned,
our head groom, is too rheumatic for it
this spring. and his boys are too impish
to be trusted. You will work under
him?"
Certainly, if 1 can thereby earn my
bread"
''Of that there is no doubt. NV father
petent."
Eyes, if only I can be competent: and
as you are so kind, let me tell YOU INV
name-Kenneth West, once an English
man, now citizen of the world"
Three months later this was the sum
total of what Maplewood and vicinage
knew of Kenneth Vests past. OF his
present, it knew very well that the
MintonS had in him treasure; as. for
breaking, training and conditioning
horses, his equal was not in all the
countryside. Then he gave himself no
airs, and at hard manual labor, though
unframed, made muscle answer i'm place
of skill.
1t soon came not to be required of
him. Uncle Ned, the coal-black stable
boss, after watching him master and
control powerful young stallion, de-
clared to his old master, "'Twas er
shame ter put pillow er hoe handles in
dat mans hams; he ought ter be holdn'
de feathers from mornin' t'well night"
and always thereafter addressed his
subordinate as "Mars West" And
Squire Minton himself soon found that
his new employe had such culture and
intelligence as made him not merely
welcome companion in his leisure
hours, but also doubly valuable in his
own sphere.
And Grace, too, soon developed cor
dial liking for the young man, who, she
discovered, was two years her Junior,
and for whom she delighted to do, un-
obtrusively. small womanly kindnesses,
t,, which E, he showed ilvllest gratitude,
the faintest degree. In fact, it angered
her somewhat that he never seemed to
forget his place as hireling and stranger